Valeo Siemens eAutomotive, a joint venture between suppliers Valeo and Siemens, has opened a factory in the east China city of Changshu to expand output of high-voltage components for electrified vehicles in China.
The 27,000-square-meter (290,626-square-foot) factory is the venture's second in Changshu and fifth in China, Valeo said.
The plant, which opened last week, has two production lines for inverters and one for electric motors.
By 2023, the factory will add three inverter lines and eight electric motor lines and increase the number of its employees to 1,500 from 104, according to Valeo.
In addition to Changshu, Valeo Siemens eAutomotive has factories in the north China city of Tianjin, the south China city of Shenzhen and east China city of Changzhou.
The French-German partnership, which also runs r&d centers in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Changshu, has 706 employees in China.
Valeo Siemens eAutomotive was established in 2016 in Erlangen, Germany, as a 50-50 joint venture between Valeo and Siemens to build high-voltage components and systems for vehicles including hybrids, plug-in hybrids and full electrics.
The joint venture produces electric motors, electric drive systems, range extenders, onboard chargers, inverters and DC/DC converters.
Globally, Valeo Siemens eAutomotive has nine plants, six r&d centers and 1,971 employees. In the first half of 2018, the company booked new orders for 4.7 billion euros (37.6 billion yuan), which increased its total order intake since its inception in 2016 to 10.8 billion euros.
